This months Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Cindi Summerlin over at Letting the Words Escape. Drop by and let Cindi know when you join in so everyone else can enjoy your take on the words.
Keeping with October's theme, the words this week are taken from Stephen King's It.
Clown, Tunnels, Children, Nightmares, Water, Friends
and/or
Visions, Red, Courage, Asthma, Recurrence, Hide
and/or
Visions, Red, Courage, Asthma, Recurrence, Hide
A Convincing Clown
I remember a time when a CLOWN was simply a man or woman dressed up to make people laugh, a white face, colorful hair, and a big RED nose along with a list of jokes and antics, or even a few magic tricks. A good clown would have CHILDREN laughing everywhere.
We had taken our son Tim and his then Fiancee Elisa (now his wife) along with about six of their FRIENDS out to eat one night. We were at a local sports bar/restaurant when I spotted a local guy who always dressed up as B-Bop the Clown. I always thought it would take a lot of COURAGE to pull off a convincing clown act myself. B-Bop was walking around all of the tables making balloon animals for all the kids and cracking jokes to make everyone laugh.
I joked that I should call B-Bop over and have him make a balloon animal for Tim since he is our son, Tim spun around and glared at B-Bop, I actually thought that he was having an ASTHMA attack for a minute, Tim grabbed a fork and quietly growled "Keep that bastard away from me!", Tim wasn't Clowning around he was serious.
Tim stepped around to my other side in an attempt to HIDE himself from B-Bop. What's up with the clown, did he do something to you? I asked Tim. He leaned close to me and whispered, I don't like clowns, they really scare me.
How in the world can you have a child twenty one years of age (at the time) and you never knew they are scared of clowns. I suddenly had VISIONS of Tim as a kid running away from a birthday party screaming, we always thought he was joking because he was somewhat of a clown himself back then, and actually still is.
Tim is not scared of anything, he can walk through dark TUNNELS filled with chainsaw wielding psychopaths, zombies, ax murderers, or even follow the Evil Ice Cream man with his sister and he will laugh it all off, but have him come face to face with a good natured clown squirting WATER out of a flower, and suddenly a RECURRENCE of all of Tim's childhood NIGHTMARES begin once again, I don't even want to see what would happen if the clown actually squirted him.
I'm not terrified of clowns, but I don't like them at all, even when they are trying to be funny
ReplyDeleteHey Adam, It's amazing how many people feel exactly the same as you do about clowns, the whole perception of a clown has sure changed over the years.
DeleteI've had an aversion to clowns, long before I read IT. As a kid, Bozo the clown (on TV) would come on and I would leave the room.
ReplyDeleteHey Sharon, I think the Original It movie is where Tim got his fear of clowns, we didn't know that he had watched it for a number of years, but too late to stop it now...
DeleteIt seems more people have some sort of fear of clowns, I never had a problem myself, I do remember Bozo.
I don't like clowns or people in gorilla suits. Someone in a gorilla suit pushed by me one Halloween and went into my house. scared the stuffing out of me because he wouldn't say a word and I didn't know if he was a stranger or a friend. Turned out to be a neighbor but it was not a funny joke in my book.
ReplyDeleteAnother great piece of writing and I take it that it's a true story? Not made up to use the word list?
Hello Jean, I can see how the neighbor in a gorilla suit would have scared you really badly, not so much the gorilla suit but the unknown of who was underneath.
DeleteThank you Jean, Yes this is a 100% true story, I saw the words this morning and this story came to mind, the words just blended in as I wrote it earlier today.
Is that a "My Buddy" doll you're holding? He bears a resemblance to that creepy Chucky from the horror movie, one of the very few horror movies that scared the daylights out of me.
ReplyDeleteI loved clowns as a kid, but now with all the creepy clowns in movies and stories I can see why many people don't like them anymore. But I've never figured out why kids don't like them.
Hello River, Yes that is a My Buddy doll, he was no problem in the house until that movie came out, after that the boys started calling it Chucky instead of My Buddy, needless to say they were scared of him after that.
DeleteAll of the creepy clowns and horror movies have given the good old clowns a bad name.
Clowns never made me laugh. I always thought their tricks and jokes were always corny but never been afraid of them either. But again, I don't get close to anything in disguise.
ReplyDeleteLisa
Hey Lisa, I think all of the original clowns intended to be corny, just part of the act so to say.
DeleteNow days it is smart to be leery of anything in disguise.
I have never liked clowns. I think they are sad not funny.
ReplyDeleteI do like - and admire - your use of Cindy's prompts though.
Thank you EC, The words were easy for me this week, they actually reminded me of this night with the kids, so it all just fell together for me. I am so happy that you like it, this means a lot.
DeleteI've never quite understood why some people are so scared of clowns, but then they'd say the same thing about my fear of lifts (elevators).
ReplyDeleteActually that Buddy doll thingy looks scary. :D
Hi Joey, My wife has the same fear as you do of elevators, but neither of us are bothered by clowns.
DeleteThe My Buddy doll became scary after Chucky came on the scene, everyone seemed to tie the two together.
Pretty neat to be able to use the words for a true story...not so neat that the poor little guy kept that secret to himself all those years.
ReplyDeleteThank you Delores, We really felt bad not realizing that he had that fear of clowns, we tease him about it some now but nothing overboard.
DeleteI'm not and have never been afraid of clowns, but I nevert found them interesting enough to be concerned with.
ReplyDeleteHello Stephen, A lot of people sure jumped on that creepy clown bandwagon to scare the heck out of a lot of folks, like you they don't bother me, I like how you put it when you said that you never found them interesting enough to be concerned with.
DeleteGood to see you Stephen.
Clowns always creep me out...except Bozo, ya gotta love Bozo.
ReplyDeleteHey Joe, Bozo was one of the good ones.
DeleteI've never had a problem with clowns. Didn't even give them much thought. When I read IT, I thought...only a CLOWN? That picture you've got up there, though, made me catch my breath, and I had to scroll past it so I didn't see any of it while reading!
ReplyDeleteHello Val, Sorry about the picture but Cindy thought it filled the bill as a creepy clown, I had to agree with her ;-)
DeleteI never had an aversion to clowns until IT ~ thank you S. King, lol. But my spouse has never liked them, and you are right, they are certainly shown in a sinister light these days. I best remember them at the circus when I was small. They were funny, and entertaining, not psychopathic monsters.
ReplyDeleteLike you I remember them more in the entertaining fashion, but it does appear that creepy and psychopathic are what everyone is remembering right now, yes Stephen King sure changed how people see clowns.
DeleteWhat a great story, Jimmy! I'm not afraid of clowns, but they're just not funny to me, and as a kid going to the circus, I sure don't remember laughing at anything they did. I read the book by Stephen King of It, and I saw the old version, but no way do I plan to watch a movie made specifically to scare people. (lol) Hugs...RO
ReplyDeleteThank you RO, I'm not sure that I want to see the new movie either, I'd hate for it to change my perception of clowns ;-)
DeleteHow sad that the clowns have such a reputation. I loved them as a kid and didn't think they were anything other than funny. I have heard that people are now scared of Santa.... and I think the world is going mad.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Valerie, It is really a shame that clowns have been made to be a subject of fear and horror rather than fun and laughter...
DeleteIf they turn Santa into a monster too I am not sure what we will do.
It's funny because it seems only recently that people haven't liked clowns. I only ever saw them at the circus when I was a kid and I thought they were amusing.
ReplyDeleteI remember your My Buddy story!
Hey Bijoux, I am hoping that once the new wears off of this movie and folks start tiring of the creepy clown fad that the original clowns begin to get a good name again.
DeleteDon't tell Tim I said this, but he looks like he might be a bit of a clown himself...like his dad.
ReplyDeleteAnnie you are so right Tim is definitely a clown himself, he has been since he was really young :0)
DeleteI loved reading your story first over at Cindi's. Great job Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteThank you Annie, Cindi is doing really good with her October theme for the words in my opinion.
DeleteI think clowns can be very scary!
ReplyDeleteHello John, They are indeed to many people, and most of the time it depends on the clown.
DeleteI use to enjoy clowns and actually was one in our high school's circus. It was in Sarasota, the winter home of Ringling Brothers, and we had many classmates whose parents were performers. We put on quite a show. I loved the grease paint, fake nose, big shoes. and painless pratfalls. Fear of heights kept me off the cool stuff. It is a shame that "It" and shows like it put such a fear into so many. Just like your My Buddy Doll now looks like Chucky. We are so easily ruled by suggestion:)
ReplyDeleteHey Patti, A very excellent insight into the life of a true clown, too bad suggestion can ruin the true meaning behind something as innocent as a clown.
DeleteI can totally agree 100 percent with Tim. My son has the same phobia. When he was about seven we were watching a clown perform in Seaside Village, San Diego with a whole group of people. Said clown disappeared and unknowingly crept up behind us, grabbed my son by the neck, shoved a white hankie in his face and blew a device that made a sound like 'blowing your nose' that was as loud as a fog horn. I didn't have time to swat the clown as I was too busy chasing my son who was running like a racehorse in the opposite direction to that crazy clown. He still has a thing about them to this day. I also could not get him to sit on Santa's lap ever more, as he said it wasn't Santa, it was a creepy guy in a Santa's costume pretending to be Santa :)
ReplyDeletep.s. not too fond of clowns either so Tim, totally understand and I love that photo of the two of you. The clown not so much, lol!
Oh my lord, I can totally understand why your son would have a fear of clowns Denise, what this one did to your son was definitely not funny, he was lucky you didn't get your hands on him.
Deletewhat can i say about kids i myself am quite scared of clowns since my childhood.
ReplyDeletei still remember when i go to circus with my parents ,and everybody applause for clown i put my hand on my eyes and stick my head on mom shoulder .
i could not stand the weird makeup and frenzy expressions on the face of clown .
some years back i used to see horror movie and they disturbed my sleep many times .
but since my parents died i feel strange stillness in my inside world .i don't feel terror of horrible scenes or thrill .
even i can stare at clown's eyes for long to find out the reason behind pain i feel in them
Hello Baili, It appears that your fear goes all the way back to your first encounter with a clown. It seems to me more people than I realized have some sort of fear of clowns.
DeleteSometimes a fear is something we can't do anything about, we just have to learn to keep it from overtaking us, horror movies will give you nightmares but you need to tell yourself that it is just a movie and not real to help control your fears.
It's good seeing you Baili.